Matthew Chasteen gives you a deck profile of his top 4 Nashville Regional Spellbook Deck – BONUS TOP 8 DECKLISTS

Over the weekend, I competed at The Next Level Games’ Regional Qualifier in Madison, Tennessee. The week leading up to the event, I had been flip-flopping on what deck to play: Infernity or Spellbooks. My friend had bailed on me the morning of, so I was forced to drive up to Madison on my own and did some deep last minute thinking about my deck. And after a failed Facebook poll, I went against the popular opinion and decided to play Spellbooks.

The event started with 208 players registered by the start of round 1. After swiss, I ended up in 2nd place with a 7-1 record after facing 4 Dragon Rulers, 2 Evilswarm, 1 Agent, and 1 Gadget deck. Then following deck checks and filling out our invite forms, I played in top 8 against Evilswarm for the ever-so-desireable Regional deck box… Which I gave to my opponent after I won, because seriously, I already have 4 laying around my house. And I would also like to take this opportunity to point out that Nathan Ura, the only other member of TeamTNLG to play in the Regional Qualifier, also made it all the way to Top 4 with me.

After the event, I was asked twice for a deck profile, from which I decided I would simply feature my deck on TheNextLevelGames.com. So to those of you who asked, and even those of you who didn’t, I present my Spellbook deck:

My build is fairly straight forward, without too many twists and turns. But with that out of the way, I think the first thing I should do is clarify on the few different card choices I did run with.

Tsukuyomi – Using this card in my main deck is probably the best decision I’ve ever made. Tsukuyomi is insanely powerful. The ability to reuse my Spellbook Magician of Prophecy every turn should not go overlooked. I’ve used it to get around Fiendish Chain on my High Priestess and Jowgen, or even just using it to flip Jowgen facedown so I can summon a High Priestess or use Spellbook of Life to bring back an Effect Veiler from my grave to Synchro Summon. Plus, Tsukuyomi can attack under Messenger of Peace, but we’ll get to that later. Synergy with my own deck aside, there’s nothing like dropping a Tsukuyomi to handle an Ophion or Light and Darkness Dragon.

Maxx “C” – In the Norcross Regional Qualifier, I played 4 Dragon Ruler decks. Even though I beat them all, it was very draining match up that could have gone either way. I decided I needed some support for the faster decks, since I can open up with slower hands sometimes. Maxx “C” didn’t really put in any work for me, however. Not sure if it’ll stick with me to the WCQ.

Messenger of Peace – Many of you were wondering about my “secret tech” awhile back, and both the Norcross and the Madison Regional Qualifier revealed that Messenger of Peace is a GODSEND for Spellbook decks. It’s popular knowledge at this point that the Spellbook deck wins mostly by protecting Jowgen with Spellbook of Fate, but imagine adding a Messenger of Peace to that mix? It keeps Dragon Rulers and Evilswarm at bay for multiple turns, forcing them to waste resources to deal with that. This is the obvious counter choice to running Threatening Roar/Waboku. I choose Messenger of Peace for three real reasons: First and foremost, it is an additional Spell card to activate under Spellbook of Judgment. Secondly, it can last multiple turns, as opposed to the one turn alternative. Thirdly, when combined with Jowgen, that leaves only a 1400 ATK window for your opponent to attack under, making it incredibly frustrating to deal with.

Now let’s take a look at what I wasn’t happy with for this event…

High Priestess of Prophecy (One Copy) – Yep, that’s right, I said it. I found myself siding out one copy of High Priestess of Prophecy almost every game. Focusing on Jowgen/Fate was much more important for the Dragon Ruler match-up and there’s no reason to keep in all the High Priestesses when you’re playing Evilswarm who just spam Ophion. I’ll be testing with two in the coming weeks.

Justice of Prophecy (One Copy) – Again, every game, I sided out one copy of Justice. Even off of Spellbook of Judgment, I would rarely want to go into Justice of Prophecy. I would almost always prefer a beatstick like Kycoo or defenses like Jowgen. Searching for High Priestess just never did enough for me. I already started testing with one Justice of Prophecy, and I’m quite happy with it.

Maxx “C” – As I said before, Maxx “C” just wasn’t heavily utilized. I liked having them for the Dragon Ruler match up, but that was about it. They’ll likely find their way into my side deck.

Monster Reborn – I didn’t run it in the Norcross Regional Qualifier, so I thought I’d try it here. I didn’t miss it then and I didn’t need it now. Every time I drew it, I never used it. There’s not much need for it when you can simply cycle Spellbook of Life every turn.

Droll & Lock, Dimensional Fissure, Secret Village of the Spellcaster – I never used these cards once. Not for lack of anything other than only facing Dragon Rulers and Evilswarm the entire Regional Qualifier. I’ll need more testing against other match ups before determining what to do with them.

Now as I briefly covered earlier, my match ups at the event were pretty straight forward. I played 4 Dragon Rulers (Rounds 2, 4, 5, 7), 3 Evilswarm(Rounds 1, 6, top 8), 1 Agent (Round 3), and 1 Gadget Deck (Round 8). My only loss was in round 7 to Dragon Rulers, which honestly was more to the fault of my own deck than to the opposing archetype. Opening High Priestess, Tsukuyomi, Dark Hole, Mystical Space Typhoon, and Maxx “C” does very little for you.

Overall, I think the deck is close to finished. A few more finishing touches and I think I’ll have it WCQ ready. Until then, what are your thoughts on Spellbooks? What do you think is their greatest weakness and how should you cover it? Do Dragon Rulers really have the better match up?

Check up with TheNextLevelGames.com leading up to the North American World Championship Qualifier for more tips and tricks for your favorite archetype! Want something covered? Comment below and let us know!